Lifting with Caroline Girvan 2024: What's not to love?!

Before Day 11 of Ultimate Beginner I thought I could handle 45 seconds of anything. Not wall sits (yet)! 🤣

Starting to think ahead to when I finish UB - what shall I try next? Needs to be something I can still start with slow and build up to more challenging.

Thank you @BigButtons and @AtomicBlondeRose That's reassuring to hear. I was just worried about whether I might damage my wrists. I'll also try getting some wrist supports.

I have really thin wrists too and as I said upthread I’m fine now up to about 10kg so I think it is a case that your arms overall just get stronger and you get more used to it. My wrists have got thinner if anything as I’ve lost fat but they must be stronger.

I think I've mentioned before about my tiny wrists. I'm quite small framed and just wondered if anyone has any thoughts/ideas?

I still feel very much a beginner (started with Iron in April and now part way through Epic 3). I'm really enjoying the gradual progress I'm making but I feel my wrists restrict me making more progress.

I was doing day 32 of Epic 3 yesterday (shoulder/arm) yesterday and if I tried to lift anything above 2kg (tiny I know!) it felt like my wrists were going to snap! I had some discomfort in my wrists and they just seem so tiny and weak. But the frustrating thing is that I feel like my shoulders/arms are able to lift more. It's my wrists that are restricting me.

Hope that makes some sense! Any thoughts?

Hi all. Does anyone know if there is an easier way to track which workouts are completed on the app? I liked that visually I could see which workouts I had completed on the YouTube programmes as they had a red line underneath the thumbnail however the app doesn't have this. I feel I could be missing workouts or repeating some. Thanks.

Thank you for this recommendation. I ordered this and used it this week. It is so much better than the bands that I had been using.

got the quad DOMS today from a whole 20 min video of heel raised squats and lunges (which took me about 40 mins to finish 😂) walking around like a cowboy

Thanks @samthebordercollie will look out for the new mini program.

Welcome @AhBiscuits and well done on your weight loss! I can heartily recommend Ultimate Beginner if you’re new (or very rusty, like me) to lifting. I’m halfway through it now (just finished week 3 of 6) and already see a difference in my tummy and arms. I’ve been taking it really slow with really light weights as I’m determined not to let DOMS or an injury get in my way.

Welcome @AhBiscuits ! And huge congratulations on your weight loss. Hopefully Caroline's programs will help you build muscle now.
@Mommybunny I forgot to say that in this week's Sunday update and weekly workout program Caroline said she would be bringing out a mini series before the new program, and as a clue you can take me on holiday with you...so it's presumably resistance band/bodyweigh workouts.

Hello 👋
Just checking in as I plan to start following some of Caroline's workouts, although haven't decided where I'll be starting yet.
I have lost 3.5 stone and reached my goal weight and am now keen to tone up and boost my metabolism to make maintenance a little easier.

Hi @samthebordercollie I am postmenopausal but am on HRT. Isn’t that meant to be replacing my lost oestrogen? Anyway, of all my readings it was the only one that gave the slightest indication of trouble, and so far the doctor hasn’t said anything about it. For now I think the only thing she could say would be to do what I’ve been doing, and if it doesn’t help then maybe they need to consider medication. I hope it doesn’t come to that. I think my mother has high cholesterol too, but she put on a lot of weight when she stopped smoking in her mid 40s and never took it off.

BMI getting closer to normal though - 25.2 today with the pound I dropped from last week.

Will look for band workouts on YouTube when I finish UB.

@Mommybunny Caroline has lots of resistance band only workouts on YouTube and the App, you just need to do a search. Plus body weight only which are also useful (not always easy!) for holidays.
Regarding cholesterol, are you menopausal? Cholesterol can go up during menopause because oestrogen is responsible for regulating liver lipid metabolism and so when oestrogen levels fall during the menopause cholesterol often rises (mine has done too).

Hi again everyone. I took 2 days off as I was travelling in London for work and some health tests (routine). I’ve discovered my cholesterol is a bit high, though all my other blood tests and other measurements were in the healthy range (other than a slightly elevated BMI, which I am working with diet and exercise to reduce). I’m flummoxed about the cholesterol reading - my diet is and has been pretty rich in oats, F&V, low-fat meat (I eat salmon a couple of times a week) for a long time, and I’ve been walking 7-10k steps every day for over a year now. I’ve been reducing the quantities of food and alcohol lately, so I’m hoping the cholesterol reading will be just a lagging indicator and come down soon.

I also feel like I’m getting a cold, so I was really not motivated this morning to get up and work out, but of course I don’t regret having done it. I think that must be what’s causing my tiredness.

Does anyone know if CG does any workouts that exclusively use resistance bands? They’d be great for travel once I finish the Ultimate Beginners program. I do have access to my company gym, but sometimes it’s just nice to hang out in my own space and not have everyone see how uncoordinated I am!

Yes I have heard her say lunges, and burpees.
That girl be crazy!

In the preamble to today's full body Unleash workout, Caroline mentioned that her favourite lower body exercise was ......lunges. Who would have guessed??

Yes I skip bits like curtesy lunge as I do NOT have the coordination for this but I will just replace it with something else like a goblet squat or normal lunge and do that at the same time as her

Of course you can! But it's worth persevering with push ups. I could only do a few in succession at the start but with practice I can do at least 30 now - normal ones at least, not tripceps pushups! And I've always skipped a lot of the HIT workouts because I run for my cardio. I've only ever done one EMOM 😳

Does anyone choose to actually skip a workout?
I can't do push ups! So an entire workout with variations seems pointless to me..so I've been skipping them, likewise some of the enom.(hate those)
I know I should do what I find difficult...but then I dread a workout and it feels like a bit of a waste if I'm struggling through it and not getting the reps etc.

@ellebelli i do a lot of the full body ones, I really like the triple set one at the moment as it’s arms and legs. I also have a dodgy back so no way am I going too heavy. Staggered RDL’s seem to be the one I can do the heaviest as I have made sure for so long that I am hip hinging I practiced for months. I hate some of the bent over rows and rear delt flys as bending over that long hurts my back but I just use a lower weight. For me I couldn’t touch the floor on the knee in a lunge for months then suddenly I could!

I find her videos very leg focused.
Since doing her workouts I have come to rather like(or at least tolerate lunges, still cannot do Bulgarians from a chair, I use a small step)I use 7.5kg but usually have to drop down as the workout goes on.
It is squats I struggle with,If I lift heavier than 6kg in each hand it feels uncomfortable in both my shoulders,wrists and lower back..Did a squat and press workout last week and it made me sore for sure-not a fan!
I am in awe at some of you using 12.5 and 10's.

Caroline was using 15kg dumbells held high for the elevated static lunges. No way could I lift that, but with 12.5kg it was fine. And when she dropped to 2 x 10kg for the Bukgarian lunges I was OK matching that. However the upper body session I did after she was using a 30kg dumbell for landmine rows, I decided to use my 20kg rather than my 27kg dumbell, I would have had a bad back otherwise! And hammer press 2 x 6kg standing - she was using 2 x 10kg sitting.
There's no real advantage to going very heavy, there's an increased risk of injury and it's harder to get a full ROM. 8 - 15 reps is best for hypertrophy. 3 - 5 for strength/power lifting.

I don’t really want wrecked anything! I also love an RDL and go heavy. Just the lunges get the body weight 😂 and the triceps get the little 2x3kgs 😂